It is of considerable importance to manufacturers of consumer goods that their products be shipped to the retail outlet and presented to customers in a most economical, efficient, convenient and effective manner. The goods are typically transported from the source in bulk, as pallet loads of stacked boxes, each of which may contain a substantial number of units of the product. Before the product can be presented for purchase, therefore, it will normally be necessary to unload the pallet and remove the product from its container, often with the added step of placing the individual units on a stand or display panel. These procedures are time-consuming, inconvenient, inefficient and expensive.
The idea of providing a single pallet, for supporting a number of stacks of product containers, is old in the art. Similarly known are the concepts of providing layers of product in a stack, of providing a point of purchase display column on a pallet, and of using shrink wrap or the like to secure stacks of goods in position upon a pallet. Illustrative of such prior art are the following U.S. patents:
Van Moss et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,049,265 provides a series of stacked containers which can be secured together, each stack being capable of receiving the tines of a forklift truck.
Strouth U.S. Pat. No. 3,137,388 and Hadenka et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,405 show multiple column stacks on a pallet.
Oliver U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,694 discloses a merchandising rack having a dolly at the base, which is disassembled as the uppermost layer is utilized.
Nilsson et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,707 shows a pallet for supporting several stacks; slots in the pallet allow the individual stacks to be separated, by cuts made between the "rims" of partitions that are used to separate the elements of the stacks.
Cayton U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,806 discloses a pallet supporting a plurality of stacks, intermediate horizontal plates being provided to transfer the weight of the load to the pallet rather than to underlying cartons.
Donnelly U.S. Ser. No. 4,287,991 provides a pallet assembly with a series of stacks, the pallet being severable to allow removal of one stack at a time; corner braces and transverse and vertical tension bands are used to hold the individual stacks together on the pallet, and to allow them to be removed as individual units.
Schlicker U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,239 teaches the use of a flexible wrap in place of straps to secure stacks to a pallet.
Headon U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,981 shows a point-of-purchase display system, in which elements of a stack are held together on a pallet with shrink wrap material to enable transport and placement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel integrated assembly of package modules, which can be used to transport goods and to thereafter present them to customers in a manner that is economical, efficient, convenient and effective.
It is a more specific object to provide such an assembly in which independent subassemblies comprised of separate stacks of package modules are integrated, and can be removed for independent, free-standing display.
It is another object of the invention to provide a package module, including a box or carton having a component that can readily be removed for display of the individual package units contained therewithin, which module is adapted for use either in the integrated assembly of the invention, or as an independent unit.
Additional objects are to provide such a module in which the product units are securely supported for transport and display, and in which the components are few in number and of uncomplicated construction, thereby rendering the module relatively facile and inexpensive to produce.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel method for the assembly and transport of package modules and product units, which affords unique shipping integrity coupled with merchandising flexibility.